The government's verbal insistence that Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon's 20.9-million-baht chartered flight to attend the Asean-US defence meeting in Hawaii was not lavish is not enough. It would be best if officials share full details of the trip.
Further attempts to be enigmatic and keep the information under wraps will backfire on Gen Prawit, who also serves as defence minister.
The government and Defence Ministry stumbled with their first reaction to the scandal. When __news broke online about the trip, criticised as being extravagant given the cost of public money, as a much more expensive chartered flight was chosen for Gen Prawit's group instead of a commercial trip, the ministry's spokesman refused to volunteer any information, citing national security.
Gen Prawit's trip to Hawaii was to attend an international meeting. Nothing should be sensitive about its details: Why the chartered option was necessary when commercial flights are available, who was in his entourage, or whether their attendance was necessary.
The Hawaii trip was sponsored by taxpayer money and it was part of Gen Prawit's duties as a government official. The public has the right to know how the money was spent and whether it was justifiable.
By spinning allegations about political wrangling being at play in "Hawaii-gate" instead of revealing facts about the flights, the government and Defence Ministry are fighting a losing battle.
The government knows this is the information age, where content tends to travel freely and quickly. What they probably have not realised is that it is very difficult to keep secret or defend inconsistent versions of what happened under this environment.
When people criticised the 600,000-baht estimated cost of food and drinks on board the chartered flight as exorbitant, Gen Prawit contended that the real expense should be lower than that as he did not eat any fancy food, just normal noodles.
Arriving immediately on the heels of Gen Prawit's remarks, however, was an image of what appeared to be a menu for the deputy premier's group featuring a meal of caviar and Italian ham.
The Defence Ministry was adamant it would not disclose a list of the trip's participants to the public as it was worried about individuals' right to privacy. The concern seems unwarranted as these "officials" would have supposedly joined the trip based on their public duties. There should be nothing to hide about them attending the meeting.
The ministry's guarded reaction only made people more suspicious of who was among those who travelled along with Gen Prawit and whether their presence was justified. It was almost inevitable that soon enough, a list of people described as passengers on board the chartered flight was leaked on social media.
The names prompted a fresh scandal as some of the people did not seem to have direct connections with the Hawaii meeting which concerned matters of security.
Both the alleged image of the on-board menu for Gen Prawit's group or the list of participants have not been verified but they have prompted deep suspicion among the public.
At issue is not just whether the deputy premier's choice of a chartered flight was justified but whether the government has been truthful with the public about how their money was spent.
Instead of dismissing these online leaks as misinformation, even though some of them might well be, the government and Defence Ministry would do the public a greater service if they came clean about the entire trip. Show the public everything, and remove all doubt.
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